Times Sunday Magazine goes to college

The New York Times debuted the first "college issue" of its Sunday Magazine yesterday.

The College Issue covered topics ranging from the admissions process to rankings to the value of a college education. It also featured a poll of students' campus experiences, conducted by the New York Times and mtvU, MTV's college network. The winning entry from a nationwide college essay contest was included in the issue as well.

Distributed as an insert in the Sunday paper, New York Times Magazine has an average paid circulation of 1,627,062.

In advertising, the education category reflected the editorial focus with 20 pages of education advertising û a record for the Times. Many of the education ads showcased universities from the New York area, such as City University of New York, New York Film Academy and the New School. Advertisers, however, ranged from as far away as the University of Oregon and the University of South Florida.

Advertising pages for the college issue totaled 104. Other issues of the Times Sunday Magazine have garnered more ad pages. For example, T: Women's Fashion boasted 183.3 ad pages in its August 26th issue.

A full-page, four-color ad in the New York Times Magazine costs $103,955. Ad pages to date for the Times Sunday Magazine have dropped 5.7 percent compared to the first half of 2006. The PIB shows ad pages for the first half of this year number 1,707.34.